


Regressed

by liccy



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Ending, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Memory Alteration, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Soulmates, The muse demanded that i write this, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 15:03:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20117032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liccy/pseuds/liccy
Summary: I wondered… there is the speculation that when all is said and done, the Links would be returned back home, however they would not remember this adventure, nor would it SEEM to everyone that a single day has passed. It would cause too many issues with the timelines… well more than it has already.Anyway, while the Goddess can make it so that everyone forgets, even she has limits to her power. Maybe not everything was erased.  Maaybe there were lingering bits of proof that still existed, since physical evidence could be harder to manipulate than memories. Maaaybe a soul and one's instincts are just too connected to ever forget another kin.But, like I said; Maybe.





	Regressed

**Author's Note:**

> What started originally as an example, it quickly became a little snippet. Written on my phone and poorly edited due to lack of sleep. 
> 
> Enjoy or not.

Links's eyes snapped open. Wrong. Something was terribly wrong. While he didn't sense any danger, for some reason his instincts were screaming at him that something had happened! Something important. Not so gracefully, he immediately scrambled out of bed and jumped over the railing of his loft, only to let out a yelp as he nearly landed on one of the chairs from the dining table, a chair that had been carelessly placed in the middle of his den. Who had put that there? Had there been an intruder? Apparently they were a rude one if they just left his chair in the middle of his landing zone. It wasn't him, that was for sure since he very rarely used his chairs anyway. The house, as nice as it was, still felt suffocating at times. He much preferred to eat on the roof facing the Twin Peaks. If it was raining, he'd sit under the tree, and let the warmth from the cooking pot keep him comfortable. 

Thoughts of an intruder had him even more concerned and cautious now. Link’s eyes scanned the walls and took in his inventory, specifically his weapons! If any of them were taken, he was sure the others would help…

Wait, what others? 

Ok, that was an odd thought, but right now that didn't matter! His gifts from the Champions! He needed to make sure they were all safe! Quickly examining the walls before him, he let out a sigh of relief when he noted that the items in question were all undamaged and accounted for. Oh thank the Goddess! Still, a little tickle in his head urged him to evaluate further. He was still getting that feeling that something was not right. Observing further, he was soon able to pinpoint the problem. The displayed weapons had been switched around! Their shine was a bit duller, meaning that they had also been handled and played with. He growled at this. Someone had dared to touch his treasured gifts? If he ever found out who, he'd… wait, no. He needed to calm down. It was fine. He still had them. They hadn't been stolen. That's all that should matter. 

Ok, so not thieves then. 

Still, that inner feeling did not fade. Looking around, his brows furrowed as he began to notice other small differences. Why was there a stack of freshly washed dishes in the sink, and why had so many been used? He didn't recall having anyone over recently, much less more than one person. At least they had left the place much cleaner than it was before they ran off. It even appears that they had left a gift! And oh what a gift! Awed, he gazed upon the object to assess it better. It was an intricately carved wooden spoon. The carvings were smooth and seamless! It was as if the wood itself had melded in the artist's hands like soft dough, instead of having been chipped away from an unforgiving knife. It really was beautiful and whoever had made this was quite talented. It was nothing like he's ever seen before!

And yet, as he held it, he felt a sweep of familiar warmth from within, easing that feeling of wrong. That settled it. No way was he ever going to use this for mere cooking. Besides, if it suddenly broke, he'd get upset again and…

“He"? “Again"?

Shaking his head to chase out that other odd thought, he figured there really was no need to worry. He may have had an intruder, but nothing was taken, so no harm done. He may as well start his morning and prepare breakfast. 

As he opened his Sheika slate to pull out a handful of ingredients, the tickle returned. While beginning to get annoying, Link knew to never ignore his instincts. Wondering what it may be this time, he glanced down at his slate, stilled for a second, and then blinked hard. Surely he was still half asleep, and needed his eyes to refresh, because he just couldn't be seeing what he was seeing at this moment. Flipping through the screen, his panic and confusion grew as he noted that the numbers, below many of his supplies, were incorrect! For example, he shouldn't have been out of arrows already! Why would he be? Hyrule was no longer plagued with as much monsters since he defeated the Calamity, not to mention he recently restocked a few days ago! How was this possible? He had his slate with him at all times! He would have definitely noticed if someone had tried to get close enough to touch his prized possession. 

With fingers trembling from his nervousness, he accidentally switched applications, and what he saw caused him to stop breathing altogether. His pictures. They looked… corrupted. Flicking his finger at the screen in trepidation, he let out a high sigh of relief as some familiar images filled the screen. Okay, so not all of them. The ones Zelda had taken were still safe. So what were these other pictures from? What were these memories from? Why did they look distorted and scrambled? They looked broken. Was the slate broken? Could it have been from exposure to the malice? Why now, though? One thing was for certain, he needed to see Purah right away about this.

Not wanting to risk further damage to the slate, Link forwent with warping immediately to the Director's home, and instead ran his way quickly up the hill. Upon reaching the Tech Lab, Link was surprised to find that the doors were locked. Immediately he started pounding his fists on the door, his voice loud and desperate to be let in. 

“PURAH! Open up! I need to show you something!”

There was startled yelp, the sounds of things crashing onto the floor, then soon followed by a child's voice cursing in words strong enough to curdle milk. Which, for some reason, made him feel oddly nostalgic. 

“Linky! I’m a bit busy here! As much as I want to, I don't have time to see selfies of you riding a Molduga. Maybe tomorrow!”

“That's the problem! My pictures! They're messed up! I think the slate's broken!” Link’s fist slammed hard again on the door one more time, before it dropped uselessly next to him, clenching in frustration. He didn't know if he could wait until tomorrow. What if more stuff happened to the slate? What if it stopped working altogether? What if…?

Suddenly the door swung open, startling Link from his thoughts. While he did hope for Purah to answer the door, when she did, it wasn't exactly the sight he expected. There stood the turned-young Sheika, with dark circles underlining her naturally red colored eyes. The rarely seen seriousness in her expression and the authority in her tone reminded Link that this person was indeed the older sister of Impa.

“It would take an act of the Goddess herself, or just intentional foolishness of yours on a grand scale to break that thing. Get inside! Show me!”

Nodding, Link quickly followed the other within and presented the screen in question to the child-like elder. Purah snatched the tablet from the Hero's hand, but still made sure not to rattle the sophisticated technology too much. Link could only just stand there, fidgeting as he watched Purah go through each applications, humming and hemming, and taking notes. At one point she even placed the slate under the Guidance Stone, only to frown and take more notes.

“Good news, little Linky! The Slate is not broken. All functions are normal... so I’m not going to have Zelda scold you, and use you as a test subject.” 

A heavy weight lifted from his chest at these words. Still, the nagging sense of wrongness did not fade one bit. “What about the pictures? If it's not broken, why are they like that?”

At the question, the small scientist made her way toward a fallen pile of paper, perhaps leftover spillage from whatever chaos that happened earlier. Plucking a few rectangular sheets, she passes the items to Link to hold. 

“It would seem like your pictures weren't the only ones affected, Linky. Tell me what you see.” 

Peering down, Link’s brows furrowed in concentration as he examined the images, flipping through each one with a confused expression on his face. 

“They just look like ordinary pictures of random places: Some trees, rocks… some look blurred or too dark… and why do you have a picture of a hung Hyrulian Bass?”

“We’ll get to that. Tell me Linky, do you recognize any of those places?”

“Hmm, that Bass one could be around Lake Hylia, I think. The others, I'm not so sure.”

“SNAP! Exactly! You, who have been everywhere on this Hyrule, would've recognized these places! Especially if you were the one who took those pictures.”

“But I…”

“Zip-zip! I’m not finished! I apparently took the time to make these for you. I know that because they were in a file with your name on it and my handwriting. Now, you know I wouldn't have done so unless they were important and you payed for them. Our funds are too low and my resources are limited. Another thing is that the Sheika slate logs the location of where you took your pictures. There are no such descriptors, meaning that none of these were taken here. This just narrows my theory further. If it wasn't you… now, don't give me that look, Linky. We all know wherever there's trouble you're somehow involved. Huu-huu-huu. If it wasn't you, then it can only be an act of the goddess. As for why? I am a woman of science. That's not my specialty.”

It was too much to take in, but while Link couldn't say he understood all of it, he got the basic jist of it. With a nod, the century old teen then took back the slate and opened up his map. Sliding his fingers until the reached his intended destination. 

“Alight then, I'm go ask her, and I think I know where to do that. Thanks, Purah!”

Before the de-aged scholar could inquire where the other was going, the blue light had already engulfed the hero, vanishing him from sight.


End file.
